First impressions of the Samsung Odyssey WMR headset shows you get what you pay for

This morning we expressed some concern about the price of the Samsung Odessey Windows Mixed Reality headset, which at $499 costs around the same as the Oculus Rift, but without the proven ecosystem and years of support the Facebook-funded headset offers.

After some reports of some hands-on time with the device, it seems the price may be justified. Journalists from Engadget and the Verge have tried out the device on games such as the new Halo Recruit and the popular Superhot VR title and came away impressed.

The Verge notes “ Microsoft and Samsung have managed to design and develop something that feels nearly identical in image and software quality, as well as comfort, to the Oculus Rift” but offered the advantage of inside-out tracking without having to nail lighthouses to your walls and that “… the software quality from Microsoft is surprisingly solid, with fluid VR motion and high-res visuals on Halo Recruit that made it looks indistinguishable from a high-end Rift game.”

The result is a brilliantly sharp and crisp virtual environment — when I took a brief Holotour of Machu Picchu, I genuinely felt like I was there, floating above the mountains on a hot air balloon. Color reproduction is fantastic, and there was none of the screendoor effect that so often plagues VR headsets of lesser quality. The 110-degree field of view also contributes to the feeling of immersion, which is especially apparent when viewing 360-degree videos and photos.